Dates & Location

Blog

Subpage 4

01 May 2019

Top Three Intrepid Electric Vehicle Explorers

Rebecca Cooke

For 21st century explorers, electric vehicles represent a new frontier in overland adventuring. As the power and capability of EVs develops there are new borders to cross, boundaries to break and records to set for intrepid travellers.

Check out these intrepid EV explorers who conquered the globe one EV charging port at a time.

For most of us a road trip might entail a week of country driving, coastal roads and a few picnics in scenic spots along the way. But Wiebe Wakker is not most of us. The Dutchman just completed the longest electric vehicle road trip taking three years to drive from the Netherlands to Australia. He set off from Amsterdam on the 15th of March 2016 in his fully electric vehicle named the Blue Bandit, headed for Sydney.

The car boasted a 150kW motor, a 37kW hour lithium ion battery with a range of 200km and a top speed of 180 km/ph.

Wakker set out to learn as much about sustainability and electric transport as possible on his journey and made pitstops at organisations and communities active in the sector to “show the challenges in various countries and explore innovative solutions and ideas.”

“I believe everyone can contribute to a more sustainable world. I try to do my part by showing the possibilities of sustainable mobility.” Says Wakker.

Wakker broke records by completing the world’s longest EV road trip when he arrived in Sydney, three years later in April this year.

Find out more about his journey, his car and his discoveries on the road via his website, PlugMeIn.

Chris Ramsey made history by becoming the first person to complete The Mongol Rally in an EV. The rally renegade took on the 10,000+ mile challenge from the UK to Ulan-Ude.

Chris Ramsey and his wife Julie set off in their electric Nissan LEAF on July 16 headed for Ulan-Ude in Siberia, via Mongolia, along with 340 other petrol or diesel cars.

They arrived on Sunday 10 September after travelling across the mountain ranges, deserts and the steppe of Europe and Asia with no back-up, no support and no set route.

Ramsey said: “Over the past 55 days we’ve driven 10,000 miles across mountains, desert and grassland and our Nissan Leaf has coped with it all. I hope our adventure shows Scotland has taken the right decision to be ambitious and aim to phase out fossil fuel vehicles from 2032.”

Ramsey, who founded Plug In Adventures in 2011, has completed several previous rallies in his electric vehicle including John O’Groats to Land’s End, London to Monte Carlo and Scotland’s North Coast 500.

Renowned Polish adventurer Marek Kamiński has made a name for himself mounting expeditions to the North and South Pole on foot.

In May 2018 he decided to turn his infamous adventurous streak to sustainable transport by testing the limits of EVs with his #NoTraceExpedition (see below tweet). Kaminski set out from his home in Poland to take on the mammoth 16,000km journey from Poland to Japan in a Nissan LEAF.

He made it to Japan in August 2018 after crossing two continents and nine countries with zero emissions in the 100% electric vehicle.

In his mission to challenge the myths around sustainable travel, Kaminski saw the Nissan LEAF as the perfect partner. The car produces zero tailpipe emissions and offers a host of features including Nissan e-Pedal and ProPILOT semi-autonomous driving system.

Kaminski said: “For me, this journey is not just about reaching my destination – it is also about making a simple, brilliant change to be more sustainable.

At Global EVRT we know that EVs have the power to shape the sustainability of travel and we're making the journey to clean mobility an unforgettable adventure. Don’t miss your chance to take on your own EV adventure. Join us for EVRT Africa Oct 2-10th, get your tickets online now here: https://www.evrtafrica.com/tickets